Documentary producer Dennis B. Kane has traveled to the former Soviet Union 33 times since the mid-1960s working on various projects. And he noticed a few changes when he traveled there for his latest, the "World of Discovery" film "Survive Siberia."
It was his first trip there since the fall of communism."As always, traveling to Russia is a real trip," Kane said. "I always go filled with great hope and expectations, and usually I'm very disappointed when I get back.
"This last time was terrific."
Under Communist rule, working in the Soviet Union was "extremely difficult."
"I can remember years ago asking for permission to do certain things, receiving permission in Moscow and then getting out (to other parts of the Soviet Union) and having permission denied," Kane said. "They basically wanted you to fail. The only reason we didn't fail was because we were just pushing and pushing all the time to get things done."
Under the new regime, the governmental stumbling blocks have been removed. Officials seemed anxious to help, rather than hinder, the filmmakers.
"The people themselves are just wonderful. They always have been, even under communism," Kane said.
Among the sites visited in "Survive Siberia" is an abandoned prison camp, which looks just as forbidding as it sounds.
"They were in the back of nowhere, purposely," Kane said. "There were no fences. The Siberian winter would get you if you tried to escape. There was no place to go, no where to hide."
But the towns were considerably different. Kane first visited Siberia in the mid-1960s while working on a National Geographic film. His was the first foreign crew allowed into the region.
And one of his early visits resulted in one of his most vivid memories of Russia. He was asked by a National Geographic co-worker to take a painting to a timber camp worker in Siberia. A painting of the man's daughter.
"We found him at this little log house. We knocked on the door and this bear of a man answered," Kane said. When the man learned why they had come, "This guy just broke down in tears, grabbed me around the middle and gave me the biggest bear hug. I thought he broke a couple of ribs."
That led to a huge celebration involving many of the timber-camp workers. "I have never been so drunk in my life. That's what you call Russian hospitality," Kane said.
"Survive Siberia" is another excellent entry in the "World of Discovery" series. Along with some history of the region and its use as a forced-labor/death camp site by the communists, it includes fascinating portraits of Siberian settlements, Siberian natives (the ancestors of the Eskimos) and efforts of the Russians to use icebreakers to keep the arctic sea paths open.
Imagine a place where children have to be exposed to ultraviolet light to prevent rickets - there's too little sunlight to provide the needed vitamin D.
As a longtime observer of Russia, Kane sees the recent developments there as "coming out of a dark mine shaft into bright sunlight." But that's not to say everything is wonderful.
"They're going to have a tough row to hoe for the next 30 or 40 years," he said. "You've got to start with the ordinary guy on the street. Prices have quadrupled, and that's just the start of it. It's not fun. It never has been over there."
Kane has observed a big increase in crime, as well as the onset of unemployment and other social ills. But the Russians he has spoken with believe things will improve.
"As far as we're concerned, the way things have changed over there appear to be extremely positive," he said. "And most of the Russian people believe it is very positive. But everything is in a state of flux there now, and who can say how things will turn out?"LESS `FOCUS': KSL will cut back its morning public affairs/news program "Focus" from an hour to 30 minutes by the end of the month.
Plans currently call for the change to be made on June 29.
"Focus" will air from 8-8:30 a.m., instead of 8-9 a.m. The second half hour of the show will be replaced with the CBS game show "Family Feud."
The main reason for the switch is to mollify the network somewhat. CBS is unhappy with KSL because the station has pre-empted the network's Saturday morning cartoon lineup for local news.
With this move, Ch. 5 will be returning 21/2 hours of programming per week to CBS.
Cutting "Focus" to 30 minutes will also allow KSL to shift some of its staff to other newscasts.LAWSUIT: As if Warner Bros. doesn't have enough troubles, what with a suit accusing the studio of plagiarizing the new CBS drama "Polish Hill" from a book, there's still more trouble.
Neal Marlens, the creator of "Growing Pains," is suing Warners for $50 million, saying he's entitled to 25 percent of the proceeds from the long-running series, and charging the studio with some rather creative bookkeeping.
According to the suit, "Pains" has earned more than $200 million in gross revenues, but the studio shows a $2.6 million deficit.
Warner Bros. refused to comment on the suit.